"We're particularly proud of this piece of equipment for the Ordnance Corps," says James Sutton, U.S. Army program manager for heavy tactical vehicles. "The M7 Fresh allows the combat repair teams of the support companies and battalions to go forward to the location of a downed combat or tactical vehicle, and repair and fix the vehicle right on-site," explains Sutton. "Of course, they can also set up the Fresh in a maintenance collection area. This enables them to do the repair on-site with all of the tools that the mechanics need."

The foundation of the M7 Fresh system is a dismountable maintenance module built on a reinforced M1077 logistics flat rack. In addition to an integral 5-ton crane for overhead lift capability, the weather-protected module features stabilizing jacks, an onboard power source, welding capabilities, hand and power tools, spares storage and space for a range of maintenance and repair kits. Two multicapable mechanics comprise the module crew.

The FRS is issued to Army maintenance units along with either the palletized load system (PLS) truck or the heavy expanded mobility tactical truck load handling system (HEMTT-LHS) truck as its prime mover. The system is carried on the PLS in the 4th Infantry Division (4th ID) and on the C-130 transportable HEMTT-LHS in the interim brigade combat teams. (The C-130 transportable maintenance module is the same in both units.)

According to Sutton, until receipt of the FRS, mechanized and armor units must continue to transport combat repair team members in the rear of an M113, with the maintenance vehicle following an M88-series recovery vehicle, to the downed-vehicle repair site. Although the configuration provides the teams with high tactical mobility, the mobility benefits are balanced against equipment storage restrictions and other operational and maintenance function limitations.

"Both of those vehicles, the M88 recovery vehicle and the M113 carrying the soldiers with the box of tools, have to stay there so that they have lift capability to support whatever tools the mechanic has in his toolbox," Sutton says.

By contrast, the integral lift and expanded tool capabilities of the Fresh module allow the M88 to leave and perform additional missions following initial recovery operations. "The Fresh provides its own crane -- a 5-ton crane that can pull a pack out of an Abrams tank -- and all the other tools that soldiers need. There are about 560 tools on FRS, along with the crane, the welding equipment, the big pneumatic jacks and its own power generator set to provide lights, electrical and hydraulic power," says Sutton.

The program genesis dates back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when Ordnance Corps user representatives began to explore concepts for taking maintenance capabilities forward under a fix forward/repair rear doctrine. The process led to the emergence of a heavy repair vehicle (HRV) prototype system. Developed by Oshkosh Truck Corporation, the initial HRV concept was permanently mounted on a PLS truck chassis.

Successful field experiments with that concept design and subsequent experiments with a dismountable forward repair system-heavy module helped support user representatives at the Ordnance school in their development of a 1998 operational requirements document for FRS. Approved as a warfighter rapid acquisition program, initial funding was made available in 1999.

"At that time, the first unit equipped [FUE] was scheduled to be in 2002," says Sutton. "That, however, would have been too late to meet first digitized division requirements. We in the program manager shop figured out how to accelerate the schedule by about a year and a half, so we were able to issue in November the first battalion set of Fresh to the 4th ID at Fort Hood, Texas."

The M7 maintenance modules are manufactured by the U.S. Army's Rock Island Arsenal. "In the fall of 1998, when we wished to accelerate the schedule, Rock Island Arsenal representatives came to us," Sutton explains. "Then we went there and did a make-or-buy analysis. They have a great capability there, so we selected them to be the manufacturer for the Fresh module. They have done a super job for us, and I credit six months of program acceleration to the fact that we could go to the arsenal and do this in a timely fashion."

Rock Island Arsenal initially built five low-rate initial production (LRIP) Fresh modules: four test units and one logistics unit. The four test systems were used for initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) trials conducted at Fort Hood during the first quarter of 2000.

IOT&E testing was so successful that 4th ID kept the LRIP systems and used the units to support turn-in of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, which were exchanged for the enhanced versions used in the Army's digitization capstone exercise at the National Training Center in April.

A milestone III decision during the summer of 2000 allowed the start of full-rate production at Rock Island and led to first unit equipped for the initial forward-support battalion (16 systems) in November of last year. Those systems were among the platforms participating in the April digitized capstone exercise.

FUE's fielding of the PLS-based M7 to the first digitized division was followed by delivery of the seven required HEMTT-LHS-based M7s to the first U.S. Army brigade combat team's 296th Brigade Support Battalion at Fort Lewis, Wash., in mid-February. Current M7 FRS production rates of approximately 40 to 50 systems per year are being fielded against a requirement for 64 systems per heavy division/seven per interim brigade combat team, plus an additional five in the combat service support company.

Along with continued FRS fielding, Sutton describes near-term plans to introduce significant technology advances into the overall system: "The National Automotive Center here at Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Oshkosh and my office are working on a hybrid electric HEMTT-LHS. We've also taken one of the early LRIP Freshes, removed the generator set and made it work with the hybrid electric HEMTT-LHS."

By using the vehicle as the generator source, planners hope to be able to offer the same capabilities at significantly lighter weight, further reducing the logistics footprint of the supported force. A prototype of the new design should be available by late summer.

In summarizing system benefits, Sutton relates what a forward support company commander said following IOT&E testing. During the milestone review he said, "This is the only piece of equipment I've ever seen that made sense."

Sutton concludes: "This is one of the first pieces of equipment that the Ordnance Corps has had all to its own, and it's something that it desperately needs. For soldiers now out there with nothing but a socket wrench, this gives them real industrial-quality power tools to do their work."

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